3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): The Sea Beast

2022, Chris Williams (Big Hero 6) -- Netflix

My new(ish) tactic in writing for this blog is not what we were doing prior, a separate post where all the To Be Written Posts sit which grows and grows, but now a list of Draft Posts that I peck away at until done. They say that in writing, you shouldn't rely upon Being In The Mood, but... that's my thing. Sometimes, when I sit to write a post, all that comes out is, "Movie OK... pretty." Other times, I waste many (not short) paragraphs with unrelated commentary on other things, like the personal challenges of writing blog posts on a site that proclaims to be Movie Reviews. Consider this stuff as all those paragraphs and anecdotes you have to read before the food blogger finally tells you what the fucking ingredients and steps are for the recipe ! 

I commented to Kent as we strolled along the island paths, this summer past (yes, that is how long this one has sat in The Drafts) that what I remembered most about The Sea Beast was its efforts at World Building. The movie is set in a sea going world, sort of pirates in the Caribbean era, which is plagued by sea monsters. Brave crews of ships, such The Inevitable, hunt the dangerous waters and kill the kaiju sea monsters, returning to the King & Queen with their bounty. Captain Crow, of The Inevitable, has a "white whale" hate-on for a particularly large beast they call the Red Bluster, and when the King & Queen tell him that sea monster hunting will become automated, via a massive galleon called Imperator, Crow asks for one more chance to catch the elusive Bluster, and is given it. The final hunt is upset by a cute stowaway Maisie Brumble, who has a different idea about the monsters.

So, Pirates of the Caribbean meets How to Train Your Dragon meets Moby Dick is the movie plot at its simplest, but they do a brilliant job of establishing a vibrant world to run through the story. There are all the obvious things, the details of this nation of islands and sea going vessels, but there were little details, in the background, often left unexplained, such as the mast in Crow's cabin adorned with... trinkets. It made the world feel lived in and alive. It felt like a world that could be explained more in a TV show, or maybe a coffee table book full of notes from the animators and story builders.

So, the story. Spitfire, precocious orphaned-by-monsters Maise Brumble (Zaris-Angel Hator, Morbius) stows aboard The Inevitable which is heading out to do one final battle with the Red Bluster. Maisie almost immediately upsets things, for when they actually meet the object of their hunt, she cuts the line free and the enraged Captain Crow (Jared Harris, Morbius) throws her, and her benefactor Jacob (Karl Urban, Morbius Priest) into the sea. And then Red, as Maisie calls it, swallows them whole.

But its a rescue, not a meal. They are deposited on an island where monsters abound, but they are not what everyone thinks them to be. Maisie, through a quick empathic nature, realizes Red, who is a she not an it, has just been fighting people because people have been hunting it, and that is the legacy of all the monster hunters. But Crow won't be denied his quarry, and finally does succeed in capturing Red, bringing it back to the island where the Queen & King live only to... well, you know how it goes in these family friendly flicks, reveal said Queen & King as the real villains, redeem Crows raging heart and unveil the sea beasts as the real victims. All the while, we are given a real cinematic eye to the animation, unusually more human-like qualities to the characters (animated people are usually just exaggerations) and quite the rousing story.

Hmm. Despite all those words, "Movie good... pretty."

Ed. Note: I am still pecking away at the last few 31 Days of Halloween posts, so should you be inclined, scroll back to the time-machined posts as they appear at the end of October.